I Choose You, Articuno!
by browntrowsers
Summary: Now that he has caught Articuno, Alder hopes that he can finally defeat Giovanni and earn his Earth Badge in the Viridian City Gym. There's only one problem: Articuno won't listen to Alder. Will Alder earn Articuno's trust and finally defeat Viridian's famed gym leader?
1. I Caught Articuno!

**CHAPTER ONE: I Caught Articuno!**

"Ugh, come on," Alder grunted, his voice echoing through the caves beneath the Sea Foam Islands. Ahead of him, Articuno flapped his enormous wings, his metallic feathers shimmering in whatever light still radiated from Slowbro in the cavern. The bird hovered in the air above twenty-two broken ultra balls.

"Ti-cooo!" the legendary pokémon cried.

"Okay, Slowbro," Alder said. "I know you're tired, but I have one more ultra ball, so let's give this one more shot. Use Yawn!"

Alder watched his Slowbro, still illuminated by Flash, stretch his arms and open his grin into a wide yawn. The effect on Articuno was immediate and noticeable; his eyes fluttered and dimmed, but not before flickering a frosty blue.

"Oh no," Alder shouted. An icy wind swirled all around the cave from Articuno's mighty wings, knocking his hat off of his head. "He's about to use Ice Beam! Brace yourself, Slowbro!" He knew that Slowbro was his only conscious pokémon and that, if he could endure this shot, the legendary pokémon would fall asleep and Alder would have his last chance to catch him.

As Articuno aimed, his beak glowed bright blue and light poured out. In a flash, every shadow in the cave disappeared and a beam shot out of the bird's scowl, glancing off of the Shelder chomping on Slowbro's tail. Even so, the icy blast must have burned Slowbro—after all, it stung Alder's bare legs, and he was twenty feet further away. Still, the pink beast stood proud, a permanent smile spread across his face.

The light in the cave disappeared as quickly as it appeared and, as Alder had hoped, Articuno's claws landed on the cave's stony ground. His eyes drooped as he pulled his head into his ruffled feathers, tucked his beak beneath a sleek wing, and promptly fell asleep.

Alder sighed. "Okay, here it goes," he said, tossing his final pokéball toward the bird. It bounced once on the crown of Articuno's tri-feathered head before sucking the bird inside of it, filling the cave filled with white light for an instant. It jolted once, twice, then a third time before locking in a shower of sparks. "Oh my goodness!" Alder said, his voice reverberating through the suddenly quiet cave. "I caught a legendary pokémon!"

Slowbro gawked at the still pokéball for a moment before falling backwards in exhaustion, his Shelder clattering against the cave floor, his goofy smile never fading.

"I know you're tired, Slowbro, but I'm so proud of you!" Asher said, zapping him into another pokéball. "Let's find you a pokémon center so Nurse Joy can heal you."

He held up Articuno's pokéball, which vibrated cold in his hand. "You too. Sleep tight for now."


	2. Come Back, Articuno!

**CHAPTER TWO: Come Back, Articuno!**

The trees around Viridian City roared to life every time a breeze picked up and rattled their leaves. Alder lay sprawled out on the grass in front of the town's poké mart, the blades tickling his neck as he strategized how to win his Earth Badge.

He had battled Giovanni a half dozen times, but still hadn't beaten the gym leader. Each time he came with more powerful pokémon, Giovanni was ready with a Gyrados, a Kangaskhan, a Rhyperior—something surprising and powerful and rare. Alder cared deeply about his pokémon, trained them with love, nurtured them to be as smart as they were strong, and each defeat had been harder to witness than the last.

Alder's pokémon rested in an exhausted heap behind him. Sandslash rested face down atop his mountainous friend Snorlax, conscious not to poke him; his claws dangled halfway down the enormous pokémon's belly and unblinking eyes watched the trees sway in the wind. Slowbro and Gloom leaned against Snorlax fast asleep, their arms snapping every minute or so as if dreaming about battle. Ditto sat stoic on Slowbo's belly, too tired to take any other form other than a purple dollop.

Alder smiled at his pokémon—they deserved this break—but was nervous about entering the Viridian Gym, especially with them this wiped out. That's when he remembered Articuno, sleeping safely in his pokéball. Alder didn't want to risk letting him out just yet.

"Alder, is that you?" he heard a familiar voice say. He sat up to find the professor walking toward him, his Pokemon League Expo cap obscuring his salt and pepper shag, his beloved Pikachu clinging to his shoulder. "I haven't seen you in—why, has it already been a year since you completed your studies?"

"Hi, professor!" Alder said, leaping to his feet, unable to contain his excitement. "You'll never guess what I caught!"

The professor smiled, then looked over Alder's shoulder at the pile of pokémon. "Well, it must be pretty impressive if your pokémon are so worn out. What is it?"

Alder held out his pokéball; it felt cold beneath his fingers. "It's a legendary pokémon—Articuno!"

"Wow!" the professor hooted. "That's amazing! Articuno is one of the most powerful pokémon you'll find in the Kanto region."

"And I caught him in the wild, in the Sea Foam Island caves," Alder said, "with help from my loyal pokémon, of course"

"Just be careful with pokémon like Articuno," the professor said. "They are often so powerful that they are tough to train. And, without the Earth Badge, Articuno may not want to listen to you. Just remember: All pokémon, even legendary ones, learn trust and love through example, not authority."

Alder was only half listening. "I won't have to worry about that much longer," he said. "Now that I have Articuno, I'll be able to take down Giovanni and earn the Earth Badge!"

"Giovanni?" the professor said, his eyebrows perking up. "That's a man I haven't had to think about for a long time. I've battled him many times and, I can tell you, he always has the upper hand. You'll have to battle smart, not hard, Alder."

"Well, I'm not too worried," Alder snorted. "Not any more." He tossed Articuno's pokéball into the air with bravado. As he went to catch it, though, the frosted pokéball slipped between his fingers and landed with a thud onto the grass. In a burst of frost and sparks, Articuno streamed into the air, its azure tail twirling and flicking behind him.

Alder's pokémon stared with wide eyes, though refused to move.

"No!" Alder said. "Articuno, get back in your pokéball!"

"Ti-coo-nooo!" Articuno sang and swam through the air like it was a crystal sea.

Sparks snapped on Pikachu's red check's; he arched his back as if he were about to leap onto the bird, but the professor tamped him down. "Easy, Pikachu," he said. "One Thunderbolt from you and even a legendary pokémon like Articuno could be taken down—or worse, scared away and lost forever."

"Don't worry," Alder said, "we can catch him, right guys?"

Alder's pokémon played dead.

Articuno somersaulted in the air, its wide, indigo wings slicing through the sunshine. The nearby trees shook in his wake as he rode the breeze higher and higher into the sky, his slender tail feathers cracking like a whip as if daring Alder to chase him.

"Articuno, come back!" Alder screamed, running through the grassy lanes of Viridian City, leaping mere inches into the air as if it might bring him closer to him. "I'm your trainer! You have to listen to me!"

The professor couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous sight. "Well, I tried to tell him," he told Pikachu with a smile.


	3. Back to the Viridian City Gym

**CHAPTER THREE: Back to the Viridian City Gym**

The Viridian City Gym was tricky to navigate—one wrong step, and the glowing tiles on the floor would send an unsuspecting trainer spinning out of control, sometimes right into the wall or back out the front door.

But Alder had battled so many times in the gym that he knew exactly how to navigate the confusing room—which glowing tiles would twirl him in the right direction and where Giovanni's office hid in the shadows. The other trainers that lurked in the dim corners of the gym sneered at Alder—tamers and blackbelts he had defeated without much fight, but who liked to mock him nonetheless, psyche him out before the big battle.

"Look who's back," a blackbelt laughed, leaning against the wall.

"What's the definition of insanity?" a cooltrainer said, petting his Nidorino's purple fur. "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?"

Alder stepped right past these trainers, ignoring their scorn, his pokéballs rattling in his backpack—and, curled up in one of them, his secret weapon. It had taken him two hours of chasing before Articuno finally landed on a fence somewhere outside of town, as if allowing himself to be caught again, but Alder knew the trouble would be worth it once he earned his Earth Badge.

The Viridian City Gym reminded Alder of a haunted house before Haunters moved in. Floor and wall lamps lit the dreary grey walls in bits and pieces, making the space feel eerie and cold. Black iron railings controlled his progress through the room, though he no longer found its maze confounding. As he stepped across the grey granite floor, his footsteps clicked and echoed around the room.

He stepped on one final glowing tile which spun him to a dark back room shrouded in shadows. He recognized Giovanni's voice before he could see him. "Oh, Alder," he said. "What are you doing here?"

The lights flicked on, though the room remained dim. Giovanni sat in a plush black leather chair, a red turtleneck rising from beneath his black blazer. On the table beside him, Alder noticed a half-full cup of black coffee and a still-illuminated pokédex with an entry on an unfamiliar pink pokémon pulled up.

"Why else would I be here, Giovanni?" Alder said. "I'm here to beat you and earn my Earth Badge!"

Giovanni rose from his chair and stepped toward Alder with a condescending smirk twisted onto his lips. "With those same weak pokémon you always use?" he said. "Give me a break. I don't have time for pipsqueaks like you. Let me get back to my reading."

"Not so fast," Alder smirked. "I caught a new pokémon that I'm pretty sure will take down your entire team. "

"That's funny," Giovanni's smile widened. "I caught a new pokémon too." He cracked his neck, then his knuckles, and the sound scattered through the room. "I suppose a fight with you won't take long. Let's do it."

Alder reached for his first pokéball, the one that felt cold beneath his fingertips. "I choose you, Articuno!" he shouted, throwing the ball into the middle of the room. In a shower of frost and steam, Articuno rose into the air, his wings stretching the entire width of the room, his gaze piercing the darkness. "Ar-ti-ti-ti!" he chirped, his song bouncing off of the walls. The room's temperature dropped immediately; Goosebumps rippled up Alder's legs.

"Marvelous," said Giovanni. "I've never seen an Articuno before, and he is truly—"

Before he could finish his sentence, though, Articuno swept through the room, spiraled from one end to another, his tail feathers flowing behind him, and roosted on the back of Giovanni's chair. His claws stuck deep in the dark leather, Articuno stared at Alder for a heartbeat before poking his beak between his feathers.

"Articuno, come back here and fight!" Alder yelled, but the bird kept pecking at his feathers.

Giovanni's stared at the legendary bird, then turned back to Alder. "So you caught Articuno," he said, "but didn't bother to train him? Well, then this will be a learning experience for you, won't it."

When Giovanni threw his pokéball, it bounced once on the granite floor and, in an explosion of sparks and lighting, launched another enormous pokémon into the air. It's ragged wings and spiky golden feathers flickered with static electricity, and its eyes stared Alder down over its long, pointy beak.

"Woah," Alder said as the hair on the back of his neck sharpened. "Zapdos."


	4. A Legendary Battle

**CHAPTER FOUR: The Battle in the Viridian City Gym**

"Okay, Sandslash!" Alder shouted. "Use dig!"

"Slash! Slash!" Sandslash cried as he dug his claws into the granite beneath his feet. They sliced as easy as a hot knife through butter, and then he was gone, disappeared down a tunnel that seemed almost too small for the spiked pokémon.

"Z-Z-Zaaap!" Zapdos screeched as lightning shot from his body in all directions. The room flashed and went dark except for where sparks shook onto the floor.

_That was another Thundershock_, Alder realized. _Thank goodness Sandslash is a ground pokémon. I might still have a chance even without Articuno_. Thundershock was the same move that had taken down his mighty Snorlax; Gloom, whose Sleep Powder was ineffective against the legendary bird; and Slowbro, whose water moves made him susceptible to electricity.

Over Giovanni's shoulder, Articuno still perched on the back of that leather chair, pecking at its tail feathers as if completely unaware of the battle ravaging in front of him. Alder furrowed his brow at the legendary pokémon. _Dumb bird_, he thought. _I'm going to let you free as soon as I'm done with this battle_.

Underneath Zapdos, two sharp claws shot out from the ground and sliced at the air just beneath his stiff feathers. "Slash slash!" Alder heard Sandslash growl, but his move missed.

"Quick, Zapdos," Giovanni said. "Use Drillpeck!"

The golden bird flapped even further out of reach, soared toward the ceiling, then dive-bombed Sandslash beak first, spinning its body like a top; lightning crackled across the room on impact. The force of the attack was so strong that it sent Sandslash tumbling back into his hole and launched him out the other side. Alder tried to catch him, but knocked him to the floor.

"Slash slash," Sandslash said before collapsing in Alder's arms.

"Thank you, Sandslash," Alder said, giving his bulky, unconscious body a big hug. The pokémon's skin felt hot and rough, though his quills tickled Alder's cheeks and chin. "We'll bring you to Nurse Joy when this battle is over. Don't worry, I'll always take care of you." He tapped Sandshrew with his pokéball and drew him back into the safe darkness of the device.

"That, by the way, is what a trained legendary pokémon looks like," Giovanni said. "Powerful, disciplined, obedient—invincible."

When Alder glanced up at Giovanni, he noticed that Articuno was eyeing him carefully, suddenly observant and curious.

Besides Articuno, Alder only had one pokémon left, and it was his weakest. "Okay, Ditto," Alder said, "Let's do this!" He threw the pokéball into the center of the room where the purple blob bounced out in a whiff of grey smoke. "Use Transform!" Slowly, sharp spines shot out of Ditto's purple body, which seemed to inflate like a bag of popcorn. Glistening feathers sprouted out of powerful wings that unfolded the width of the room. A sharp beak stretched out of his face and glistening talons curled out of his feet. "Zap-dap-dap!" Ditto chirruped, his beady eyes staring down his opponent. It was an amazing sight—two of the same legendary pokémon ready to attack each other.

"Give me a break," Giovanni complained. "Just because he looks like a legendary pokémon doesn't mean he's as powerful as one. Zapdos, use Thundershock."

Lighting shot out from the golden bird in all directions and a deafening clap of thunder rattled the room. The ground shook vibrated beneath Alder as sparks rained from the walls and ceiling. Ditto he disappeared in a blinding light for an instant and, when the smoke cleared, he had transformed back into the purple blob again.

"Ditto!" Alder yelled and ran across the room to scoop up his charred and smoking pokémon.

"Pathetic," Giovanni spat.

Alder squeezed Ditto with all his power, hugged him with all of the love he had in his heart—so much that he left an impression in malleable pokémon. "Thank you, Ditto," he said, tapping his head with a pokéball. "I promise to bring you to Nurse Joy, but I'm proud of you for being so brave during this battle. I had no idea you could transform into a legendary pokémon." As Ditto disappeared into his pokéball, Alder looked up again at Articuno, who still studied him from his perch on the other side of the room. Something in the bird's gaze seemed softer, knowing.

"Is that it, then?" Giovanni said. "Are we done now?"

Tears welled in Alder's eyes as he stared at Articuno. _I still have one more pokémon, _he thought_, but he won't even listen to me. _"Please, Articuno," he whispered—and was surprised to see the bird straighten his sleek body as if in response. "I love my pokémon, and they love me. Can't you see that?"

Zapdos whipped through the crackling air over Giovanni's head, shrieking in delight, sending lines of static electricity with each dip and dive.

"I trust my pokémon and they trust me," Alder whispered, staring deep into Articuno's eyes, "Won't you too?"

Articuno's gaze sharpened, and he bobbed the three feathers on his head affirmatively. "Ti-coo-coo-coo-coo!" he cried, startling Giovanni. The indigo bird's enormous wings beat the charged air as he suddenly lifted himself off the chair and toward the ceiling. A cold breeze swirled through the room as Articuno's gaze glowed a cool blue.

"Yeah?" Alder smiled. "Really?"

Articuno dipped beneath Zapdos and past Alder, then curved back, his tail feather's tickling his trainer's face.

"Okay then!" Alder yelled. "Articuno, use Ice Beam!"

"Wait, what?" Giovanni screeched.

The chilly wind whipped through the room as Articuno's mouth flickered with bright blue light. Soon, it became hard for his grey beak to contain the color, the energy, the cold heat, and it shot out of the bird's mouth with a keen whine, knocking his electric counterpart clear across the room. The blue light faded as Alder watched snow tumble through the air. Articuno released a cry into the dim that echoed throughout the gym—"Ti-coo-coo-coo!"


	5. Articuno's Choice

**CHAPTER FIVE: Articuno's Choice**

Alder stood outside the pokémon center in Viridian City, his pokéballs once again rattling on his belt, and released a sigh into the breeze. The location on his jacket reserved for the Earth Badge, surrounded by so many other colorful and sparkling badges, was still empty.

He had made a conscious decision—or a maybe subconscious one, he wasn't sure. He wanted to keep Articuno, wanted to train and love him as much as his other pokémon. Articuno had leant him an ounce of trust, and that meant a lot to Alder, even if one Thundershock from Zappos was enough to take the legendary water pokémon down.

But he also knew that he could not train Articuno—not now, anyways, and especially without the Earth Badge. And if Alder couldn't train the legendary pokémon, it would be cruel not to set him free.

He could train any pokémon that trusted him—Alder knew that—but he wasn't sure he could earn Articuno's trust. He wasn't even sure why Articuno had a change of heart back in Giovanni's gym. _Was it because he saw how I took care of my pokémon?_ he wondered. _Was it a change of heart at all, or was he just goofing with me again?_

He plucked Articuno's pokéball from his belt, felt its familiar chill beneath his fingertips. Before he could think any more, he threw the ball at the ground, where it opened in a snowburst of frost and ice. Articuno streamed out of it, healthy and graceful once again, and landed in the grass before his buddy.

"Okay, Articuno," Alder said, his gaze pitched toward the ground. "I'm letting you go. You're free."

Articuno cocked his head to the side, staring at Alder as if reading his soul. He flicked his tail feather like a whip, a gesture that felt defiant, though not aggressive.

"You heard me," Alder sniffled. "I'm not strong enough to train you, so you can have your freedom back." Tears stung in the corners of his eyes.

"Ar-ti-ti-ti-coo!" the bird called, thrashing his tail against the grass a second time. Then, with a single wingstroke, Articuno was ten feet in the air; with another, he was twenty; and a third sent him soaring with breeze back south toward the Sea Foam Islands.

Alder held back his tears, much to his surprise. For all the trouble that bird was, he learned to love him, and quickly—so quickly he hadn't even realized how much that dumb bird meant to him. _I wonder if he knew,_ he thought.

But then, when Articuno was almost a mile away, Alder watched the bird swing his wide wings against the metallic blue sky, tuck them against his shimmering body, and rocket right toward the boy. Fear flushed through him; the legendary pokémon looked like he was about to use Drillpeck against Alder, and all he could do was freeze in terror.

But, instead of ramming him, Articuno swept his head beneath Alder and lifted his buddy onto his shoulders before gliding back into the air. Viridian's conifers swept beneath Alder in a beautiful emerald stream, the buildings like boulders interrupting the flow. "Woah, yeah!" Alder screened, his fists clutching Articuno's feathers as they streaked across the sky.

"Arti-cooo!" the legendary bird cried.

As the sound reverberated across Kanto, it caught the attention of the professor, who was chomping on donuts outside of Viridian City's bakery. He spotted the bird as he spiraled through the endless sea of sky, his tail whipping like a ribbon behind him, his trainer hooting and hollering as he held on tight. "Well I'll be," he said. "It looks like Articuno ended up choosing Alder, didn't he?"

"Pika pika!" Pickachu said, swiping a hunk of donut out of the professor's hand.

The professor snickered and snatched the last donut from the plate. "I suppose you know a little something about that too, huh?"

Pikachu didn't respond. Instead, he munched on his donut and stared at the boy in his bird, sweeping across infinity together, in unison. The professor was right: He understood this feeling well.


End file.
